This might be old news but watching NCIS tonight 1/24/2012, Lily Tomlin has a bonsai collection. It is seen twice, once with some "students" taking pictures, etc. and later she is working on her trees, looks like a Juniper of some kind, maybe literati style. I wonder whose trees they are; I think Ernie Kou of LA rented trees to the movies in the past.

Not to betray myself as TOO much of a dork but if anyone ever watches Star Trek the Next Generation you may notice the set dressings are often sprinkled with various specimen bonsai, mostly conifers, that I believe belonged to Mike Okuda one of the shows visual designers.-Jay

Last edited by drgonzo on Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:22 am; edited 1 time in total

I'll admit I missed that reference. I assume "the borg" is from one of the later Star Trek series? I was a big fan of the original but could never get into the later series. So I guess I'm a different kind of nerd...

coh wrote:I'll admit I missed that reference. I assume "the borg" is from one of the later Star Trek series? I was a big fan of the original but could never get into the later series. So I guess I'm a different kind of nerd...

When the new BAtman comes out there will be 7-8 large bonsai in the newspaper publishers board room- they all came from me! Its actually not a bad little sideline renting trees for commercials or movies even better tv shows because its a long term rental and maintenance.

I saw a recent cartoon- "Incredible Hulk"- AvengersThe story goes like this; a future scene with very old Bruce Banner (Hulk's alter ego), retired from heroes work, is living inside a cave in a desert...Guess what his hobby is? yeh you are right!, at the same time it apparently controls his anger. Lot of bonsais were shown with different styles and sizes. I think the illustrator did his homework well.

Sort of related...there was a series of TV commercials a while back that featured a young person lamenting about her poor old parents and their dull lifestyle. The commercial cut back and forth between the two. And of course it showed the older parents out having all kinds of fun, dancing, traveling, etc...while the younger person was at home, reading, etc. One of the clips showed the younger person trimming a bonsai - the obvious implication being that it was a boring activity!

Did anyone else see that? I admit that I found it somewhat insulting...but it's probably the way most people view bonsai. Note, I have no idea what the commercial was for...

coh wrote:Sort of related...there was a series of TV commercials a while back that featured a young person lamenting about her poor old parents and their dull lifestyle. The commercial cut back and forth between the two. And of course it showed the older parents out having all kinds of fun, dancing, traveling, etc...while the younger person was at home, reading, etc. One of the clips showed the younger person trimming a bonsai - the obvious implication being that it was a boring activity!

Did anyone else see that? I admit that I found it somewhat insulting...but it's probably the way most people view bonsai. Note, I have no idea what the commercial was for...

Not sure but I think it is a vehicle commercial, supposedly showing how versatile it is.

Bob Pressler wrote:When the new BAtman comes out there will be 7-8 large bonsai in the newspaper publishers board room- they all came from me! Its actually not a bad little sideline renting trees for commercials or movies even better tv shows because its a long term rental and maintenance.